PINCE vs scanmem
PINCE
github.comscanmem
github.comSide by side
| Figure | PINCE | scanmem |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Game Memory Editors | 7.3 (#11) | 7.8 (#7) |
| Integrations | PINCE is built around GDB, uses libmemscan for scanning, and uses the Keystone engine to assemble code. | The release notes announce a scanmem Slack chat for project collaboration. |
| License | PINCE is licensed under GPLv3+. | The project lists GPLv3 for scanmem and LGPLv3 for libscanmem; the GameConqueror README lists GPLv3. |
| Purpose | PINCE is a GDB front end and reverse engineering tool focused on games, and its maker says it can also be used for other reverse engineering work. | scanmem is an interactive debugging utility for isolating and modifying a variable’s address in an executing process. |
| Scripting | PINCE includes the Libpince scripting engine and a reusable Python library, with code injection among the advanced tasks it enables. | The v0.17 release adds command-line options to run commands before interactive mode and to exit on initial command errors. |
Plans
In their own words
PINCE
PINCE is a Linux GDB front end and reverse engineering tool focused on games, though its maker says it can also serve other reverse engineering work. It is free at free and licensed under GPLv3+. Its memory tools support scanning memory and pointers, inspecting and changing variables, and locking variables. Debugging features include stepping, breakpoints, watchpoints, tracking, tracing, stack traces, and signal handling. The built-in speedhack supports Linux native and WINE/Proton processes without LD_PRELOAD or other libraries. Runtime injection supports native.so files and WINE/Proton DLL files, and the Mono/IL2CPP dissector can browse classes, fields, and methods in those process types. Users can save address tables, bookmarks, notes, and structures in.pct session files. PINCE includes a scripting engine and reusable Python library. The project directs users to its latest AppImage release, stated to run on distributions as new as or newer than Ubuntu 22.04; older distributions are not officially supported. Official local development support includes Kubuntu 22.04+ and Arch Linux, with Debian 12+, Fedora 35+, and OpenSUSE partially supported.
scanmem
scanmem is a free, open-source interactive debugging utility for finding and changing variable values in an executing process. It searches a process by PID and uses values observed over successive scans to narrow the possible memory addresses. The command-line tool can search for exact values, compare changed or unchanged values, find increases or decreases, take snapshots, and search strings when configured for string scans. It can monitor matches as their values change and set values for selected matches or all known matches. GameConqueror provides a graphical front end with a process finder, flexible search syntax, variable locking, and a memory browser and editor; users can choose search regions and types. The project separates the command-line frontend from libscanmem, which performs the scanning. The project describes scanmem as a Linux utility and documents an Android build using a standalone Android NDK toolchain. Linux interactive commands require libreadline and a mounted /proc filesystem, while the GUI has additional dependencies. The default scan data type is int, though the option command can change it. scanmem is GPLv3; libscanmem is LGPLv3.